By Jessica Davis, JTNews Correspondent
As the once vibrant economy in Argentina collapses, members of Washington’s Jewish community are exploring what they can do to help the community of more than 200,000 Jews.
In February, the Jewish Federations of North America pledged $40 million through the end of 2002 to help 5,000 Argentinean Jews emigrate to Israel by the end of this year and to ease the suffering in the Jewish community in Argentina. Job losses, currency devaluation and other results of the national economic slide have caused hunger, homelessness and poverty in what was a generally prosperous community.
“It’s our Seattle Jewish community being thrown into the Great Depression,” said Michael Newman, an active lay leader at Congregation Beth Shalom who made a visit to Argentina this month. “Anti-Semitism is not really the issue,” said Newman. “Fundamentally, [Argentina] has been a good place for Jews to live.”
From April 8–12, Newman and two other Seattle-area representatives joined 162 delegates from nearly 50 communities around the United States on the United Jewish Communities (UJC) fact-finding mission to Argentina. There, Newman, Rabbi Salomon Cohen-Scali of Ezra Bessaroth and Rabbi Simon Benzaquen of Sephardic Bikur Holim surveyed the impoverishment of the seventh largest Jewish community in the world. The three-day mission took them to Buenos Aires, where 80 percent of the country’s Jews live.
“It was a very, very well-organized trip,” said Cohen-Scali. The Seattle Jewish community can be proud of the local delegates’ presence on the mission, he said, as it was one of the biggest delegations proportionately.
“Seattle was well represented,” agreed Benzaquen. “I am very, very proud of our federation.”
Upon arrival into Buenos Aires on April 9, delegates met Argentinean olim (immigrants to Israel) at the Buenos Aires Airport who were departing for Israel that day. Since January 2002, the Jewish Agency for Israel has prepared and sent more than 1,000 Argentinean Jews to Israel as new immigrants. That moment at the airport was quite emotional, as many were saying good-bye to their families, said Benzaquen.
Next, the delegation was immediately whisked off to participate in a Yom Hashoah ceremony that took place near the Raoul Wallenberg memorial statue in Buenos Aires. Then the delegates visited AMIA, the central body of the Argentine Jewish Community, where a bomb exploded on July 18, 1984, killing more than 80 people. Although founded in 1894 with a focus on Jewish education and religious issues, it deals today with social welfare, formal and non-formal Jewish education, cultural issues and the management of Jewish cemeteries. At AMIA, delegates viewed the Agam exhibit with Anita Weinstein, director of Vaad Hakehilot (Federation of Small Jewish Communities in Argentina), in remembrance of those who perished in the 1984 bombing.
After stopping at AMIA, participants attended a briefing at DAIA by Dr. Jose Hercman, president of DAIA, on the trial of the AMIA–DAIA bombing case. DAIA acts as a sounding board for the Jewish community. It deals with issues affecting Jewish rights and represents Argentinean Jewry in the World Jewish Congress.
Early on in the evening, the delegates made a visit to Argentina’s world-renowned seminary, Seminario, to hear about the spiritual life in Argentina and Latin America. They had dinner with Argentinean Jewish community leaders. The Israeli ambassador to Argentina, Benjamin Oron, greeted the delegates, and Mario Blejer, president of Argentina’s Central Bank and an Orthodox Jew, spoke about the Argentina of today.
The next morning, on April 10, Professor Rabino Felipe Yafe greeted the delegates. An overview of the Jewish Organizational Network in Buenos Aires was given by Alberto Senderey, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s director of international community development for Europe and Latin America. Following the overview, the delegates visited the ORT School in Argentina. ORT Argentina was created in 1936 and opened its first school in Buenos Aires in 1941.
After the visit to ORT Argentina, the U.S. delegation visited microbusinesses, including a bakery, a pharmacy and a soup kitchen. Cohen-Scali said it was tragic for him to see someone in a nice suit standing in a soup kitchen. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) has helped develop a few small businesses, including a bakery run by women of the community, a taxi company, a direct-mail company, baby-sitting and elderly companionship services. Jews within the Argentinean community are trying to help each other survive, said Benzaquen.
Lunch took place at the Jewish Agency facility of BAMA, the Jewish Educator’s House and the Zavta Center. There, delegates met with young adults who had been accepted to The Jewish Agency’s Naaleh-Zohar program in Israel and their parents who would be staying in Argentina.
The current crisis in Argentina has required The Jewish Agency to expand its services. In response to increased inquiries concerning aliyah, both Zavta and BAMA have recently opened their doors as additional aliyah processing centers.
The majority of Argentinean Jews want to stay in Argentina, said Newman. Most Argentineans who are leaving say they are leaving for economic reasons, said Benzaquen. Cohen-Scali said it is despairing to see Jewish Argentineans opting for Israel because of their current situation. He said that, in mixing in with the Jewish Argentineans, he could see how they felt. “People can tell you very moving stories, but it’s not the same as being there,” said Cohen-Scali.
Later that day, participants learned about some current Tzedakah–JDC programs. They met recipients of food and clothing packages, and people from Moniyot Enterprises (a taxi cab business). The Tzedakah Foundation was created 12 years ago with the JDC’s collaboration. Its main activity is fund raising for social welfare and Jewish education in Argentina.
The group proceeded to visit a Center for Social Assistance, where they met with volunteers, coordinators and beneficiaries. This center provides for basic social needs as well as psychological and medical assistance. The JDC, supported by UJC and in partnership with the Buenos Aires–based Tzedakah Foundation (Fundacion Tzedaka), is running 37 Centers for Social Assistance throughout Argentina.
The evening closed with a dinner reception with American Ambassador James Walsh at his private residence. Walsh spoke with the delegates about both of the situations in Israel and Argentina. “It was a good time of unity,” said Benzaquen.
On the delegates’ final day in Buenos Aires, April 11, they attended a breakfast briefing with moderator Daniel Yoffe, executive director of Tzedakah. “JDC and Tzedakah Foundation professionals in Buenos Aires anticipate a big problem with evictions and homelessness in June–July, 2002. The only answer right now is emergency cash assistance,” said Michael L. Novick, JDC executive director for strategic development, in a recent report of his visit to Argentina from Feb. 24–27.
The group then visited the Libertad Synagogue, followed by the JDC Ariel Job Center/Employment Bureau and Small Business Center. Opened six months ago, this is the first employment center in the Jewish Community focusing on people with certain areas of expertise. It offers an online database for employment opportunities, technical training and personalized counseling for better employability. With 30 percent of Argentinean Jews are unemployed, 44,000 live below the country’s poverty level.
After visiting the employment center, delegates went to a Jewish day school. As a result of the current economic crisis, many Jewish day schools have been forced to close. Despite the dwindling enrollment in formal Jewish education frameworks, Benzaquen said that several mothers told him how grateful they were for Jewish schools.
Participants had lunch with families of Hayal Boded (Argentine oleh soldier in Israel) and families of other young adults who are on their own in Israel as participants of Jewish Agency–sponsored education and aliyah programs.
Thus ended the busy three-day schedule of the delegates as they departed for the U.S.
Benzaquen said it was heart-wrenching to see Argentina’s Jewish community in trouble. He was proud of American Jews for being there. “For us, it was really worth it going,” he said. Although he once lived in Venezuela, this was Benzaquen’s first time in Argentina.
Newman said he was honored to serve as a delegate and hopes to find a host family in Argentina so his daughter can volunteer there this summer.
Cohen-Scali said, “I was really, really impressed with the maturity of the Jewish community of the United States…that cares so much about Jews around the world.”
Since their return, the three delegates have spoken with their local synagogues in addition to other organizations, including the Seattle Jewish Film Festival and the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.